Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Dining Out times Two…

I keep a list of Knoxville area
restaurants that we want to try out… Some of them are new to the area and
others have been recommended to us or have received a positive review in the
local press… We are always looking for something new...and good!

Laurie and I were in Knoxville shopping
at Costco… In order to have enough energy to shop, we decided to try out
Knoxville’s new Egg and I Restaurant. It had opened in a small strip center on
the property adjacent to Costco.

The interior of the Egg and I was ‘homey’,
pleasant and clean.

The Egg and I restaurant chain is a
franchised operation that was founded in Fort Collins Colorado back in
1987. They currently have roughly 100
locations in 21 states… Ten new Egg and I restaurants are scheduled to open
before the end of this year.

This view was from our table looking out
at the patio/curbside dining and across the parking lot toward Costco.

The Egg and I has its largest presence in
Colorado, (25 locations with another one later this year), and in Texas. (30
locations with 2 more coming this year) If you’d like to learn more about this
company…perhaps buy a franchise…just go to the company’s website at http://www.theeggandirestaurants.com/.

Laurie ordered a variation of one of her
favorites…Eggs Benedict. In this case,
it was named “Parisian Benedict”. ($9.29) This version has a buttery croissant
half layered with smoked ham, sautéed portabella mushrooms and melted Swiss
cheese…which is then topped with 2 poached eggs, hollandaise sauce and green
onions. She chose ranch potatoes as her
side.

I was trying to eat a relatively healthy
breakfast. Also, I’m not that fond of
ranch potatoes and I’m not crazy about grits.
I created my own omelette. ($8.99) I added bacon, sausage and pepper
jack cheese to my 3-egg creation. I
opted for a fruit cup instead of the ‘bad’ carbs. I have to say that the best part of my
breakfast was the fruit cup… The edges of my English muffin were burnt and my
omelette was just OK. I would have
preferred the pepper jack cheese on the inside just to keep the eggs more
moist.

One win out of two… To be fair, Laurie
and I will have to return to The Egg and I for lunch in order to provide a
better appraisal of this restaurant’s offerings. Reviews on Urban Spoon, Yelp and Trip Advisor
have been mixed as well. Time will
tell. This Egg and I restaurant is
located at 111 Lovell Road in Farragut Tennessee. Phone: 865-671-3447. This location’s website and the menu is found
at: http://www.theeggandirestaurants.com/locations/lovellroad.html.

When Laurie’s sister Bonnie and her
husband Bill visited us recently, one of our casual dining choices was Wild
Wings Café. (Not to be confused with that ‘other’ chain…’Buffalo Wild
Wings’.) I ‘grabbed’ this photo of the exterior of Wild Wings Café from the
Internet…

This is the only Wild Wings Café we’ve
ever been in and it is a big place!
There are 35 Wild Wings Café location scattered across 7 southeastern
states. This is a combination sport bar,
family dining experience and entertainment venue…

The décor is sports bar plus…with a lot
going on! There always seem to be
specials for drinks and food…plus in the evenings these restaurants feature
live music several times each week.

We stopped by for lunch… Bill and I ate
so much food that dinner was not necessary!
The special for the day was All the Wings You Can Eat plus a Grilled
Cheese Sandwich, a Cup of Soup and French Fries. Cost?
How about $10.00 each!

We both skipped the grilled cheese
sandwich but we did have a cup of chicken rice soup… It was nothing special but
just OK.

Bonnie and Laurie were more controlled
than their husbands… They shared an order of Mile High Ultimate
Nachos…with spicy taco beef, queso, pico de gallo, shredded cheese, black
beans, corn and poblano peppers. ($10.49) They were very happy and content with
their choice…and their accompanying beers.

Bill and I each started out with a
10-wing order accompanied with French fries, celery and blue cheese dipping
sauce. The wings at Wild Wings Café are
very good indeed! A total of 34 sauces
are available. The sauces range from
gentle, (1 ‘pepper’), to killer hot… The hottest sauces are named Fireball,
China Syndrome, (both with 4 ‘peppers’), Habanero Hots, (5 ‘peppers’) and
Braveheart. (6 ‘peppers’) Braveheart is described as being “So hot you can lose
your head over it!”

Bill and I both like a bit of heat but we
weren’t in a suicidal mood. My favorite
sauce was “The Slayer - This hot garlic wing helps Buffy kick some demon butt!” All the wings were very good…and we managed
to eat another 6 wings each before we gave up!

The Knoxville Wild Wings Café is located
at the west end of the Turkey Creek Shopping area at I-40 and Campbell Station
Road. Prices are very reasonable. The restaurant is actually in Farragut
Tennessee at 11335 Campbell Lakes Drive.
Phone: 865-777-9464. The specific
website for the Farragut location is: http://www.wildwingcafe.com/locations/knoxville-tn.
The corporate website is at http://www.wildwingcafe.com/.

4 comments:

Most of those plates look like enough for two. We are trying to eat more French / European and I'm stunned at the amount of food restaurants serve now days. I guess you could say you really get your moneys worth, but I would need a doggie bag. Laurie's eggs Benedict were very nicely presented and as to your burned muffin, my husband likes his that way :), but I understand why most people don't.

Amazing how fast that area in West Knoxville is growing... There are new restaurants and shops constantly... I've never heard of either of these --but we don't get over there much --unless going to the Toyota place on occasion...

Dear Dave, All you can eat wings sounds like fun and glad you enjoyed them. It looks like the girls enjoyed their meal too.Glad Laurie like her breakfast though it is too bad you were not that crazy about yours. I hope all is well and your summer is happy. It is going by quickly though!Blessings, Catherine